Pants on Fire
by Haurvatat
Summary: It's after a particularly nasty run-in with the Equalists and Korra needs a little help. Well, except for that part where she never needs anyone's help. Mako x Korra, Makorra, complete fluff, special appearance by Pabo! Rated for mild language.


They were gone. Bless the powers that be, they were gone, thanks to Korra's giant polar bear dog or whatever-the-hell-it-was deciding to jump in. Mako's limbs felt heavy and would barely move. Pressure points he hadn't even known existed had been jabbed at, and it felt very much like his proverbial puppet joints had had their pins removed. Pabu, his idiot brother's not-so-idiot Fire Ferret scampered up to him and Mako couldn't resist giving the little thing a pat on the head.

"You did good, Pabu, you fierce little warrior, you," he murmured. Pabu preened as though he had the slightest idea what was just said.

Mako tried to get to his feet and stumbled, crashing to his knees. At least the pain helped wake him up a little. On the second try, he was more successful. He turned to look at his teammate (and friend? More than friends? The name for their relationship was not something they generally discussed). She had been hit more than him, and she had yet to get to her feet.

"Korra? You okay?" he asked.

She pulled her arms under her torso and tried to push herself up with great effort, but came crashing down, breathing hard. "…It's no good. I can't get up." She was taking great care not to look at his face. It had to be really hard for a girl like her to admit any weakness at all. The right question, therefore, was not 'do you need help?', but something along the lines of a demand that she accept help. Actually, it might be best to say nothing at all. Her pride would take less of a hit that way.

Mako winced in preparation for the shit he was about to put his very sore back through, but bent over Korra anyway and yanked her up, bridal style. He couldn't help accidentally brushing a hand over her ass (covered up with furs and whatnot as it was) and repeated over and over to himself that there was nothing weird or intimate about the touch.

"Dude, what the hell?" she cried, clutching at his neck feebly. "Put me down!"

He gave her the most sardonic look he could muster. "Oh, and you're supposed to get mobile how, exactly? I suppose Naga could carry you in his mouth, but watching out for his teeth could get… interesting. And I mean 'interesting' in the fashion of the ancient Earth Kingdom curse, 'may you live in interesting times'."

"Well, I'm living in some pretty damn interesting times by Earth Kingdom standards," Korra said.

"This is true. And imagine my horrible luck at getting caught up in all of it."

"Yeah, yeah, woe is you. Suck it up, princess."

"_I_ ain't the one getting hauled around Republic City because the big bad men in masks _poked_ her, for the spirits' sake."

"When I get a grip on this whole 'spirit world journey' shit, I'm going to find the worst afterlife there is and get you a one-way ticket there, I swear."

"Bring it."

Korra was about to make another good-natured expression of rage and distaste when a figure dropped down, seemingly from the sky. Mako reeled back, preparing to put Korra down somewhere safe in case it was another attack by those freaky Equalists when he recognised the bald head and the arrow that adorned it.

"Tenzin!" Korra cried.

"Korra! Are you all right? Were you attacked?" he bit out.

To Mako's eternal shock, Korra jumped nimbly down from his arms, landing perfectly and standing quite straight and unharmed. "We got attacked, yeah. These guys did some crazy shit which involved hitting these… I dunno, pressure points? Chakra points? Anyway, I couldn't bend once they did all that. I'm not sure where they got so nimble, either. Freaking gymnasts, the lot of 'em. How did you know we'd been attacked?"

Tenzin looked grim. "There have been attacks of the same nature of non-benders on benders all over the city tonight. Reports were flooding in and Lin Bei Fong called for my assistance. We need to get to safety as soon as possible, and bring as many benders as we can gather as well."

"Bolin," Mako suddenly said. They both turned to him. "Bolin's still at the arena. If they're targeting benders, then they'd definitely hit the Pro-Bending arena. I need to see if he's all right."

Korra nodded. "Got it. I'm coming with you. Tenzin, we're fine. You've got enough on your plate, so don't worry about us."

Tenzin looked an odd mix of guilty and relieved, but whipped out the strange staff/glider device that he'd used to fly in the first place, and took off with nothing more than a muted farewell and a wish of good fortune.

"So…" Mako said. "You could walk."

"Yeah. Durr, honey badger bear."

"You pretended you couldn't walk and made me carry you."

She shrugged. "Well, how else was I going to get you to touch my ass without being creepy?"

His face was priceless, as was the enraged birdlike squawking he emitted, and she proceeded to inform him of this as she began a speedy trot to the Pro-Bending Arena.

* * *

(A/N): I saw the teaser clip and couldn't resist. I've gotta stop doing this stuff. Why I'm writing Korra like my friend Katrina, I don't know. She'd totally do this, too. Basically, take Toddler!Korra's personality and add in two parts blatant sexuality and one part unrepentant sneaky bitch and you've got Katrina. Somehow, she earned the nickname "Mommy" in much the same fashion as I earned the nickname "Auntie". I'm unsure as to whether or not I should subsequently call her my sister, or if she's still Mommy. I don't pretend to understand the female teenaged mind. Well, besides my own, that is, and I'm not even 100% on that one.

If this isn't how the scene actually goes (and I know damn well this is not how it's going to go, sad as it makes me), then… oh well? Don't tear me apart. I mean, I wrote and posted this thing the day the pilot episodes aired, so don't give me crap for not knowing the specifics of the scene in terms of chronological order or context, because I had no way of knowing when I wrote/posted this, and neither did you. Let a girl dream.


End file.
